Various standards have been
sought for it--the common usage of society being generally adopted--but
it must always to a certain extent vary, according to the knowledge and
approval of the definer.
Scientific definitions are not intended to be complete, except for the
study immediately in view. Who ever saw that ghostly line which is
length without breadth--and how absurd it is to require of us to draw
it! And would not a country-bumpkin feel as much insulted, if we told
him he was a "carnivorous ape," or a "mammiferous two-handed animal," as
the French soldier did when his officer called him a biped? If we give
man his old prerogative, a "rational animal," how many would refuse the
title to pretty women and spendthrift sons, while others would most
willingly bestow it upon their poodles?
Definition cannot be formed without analysis and comparison, and as few
people indulge much in either, they accomplish it very roughly, but it
answers their purpose, and they are contented until they find themselves
wrong. Hence we commonly consider that nearly everything can be defined.
We may then call the ludicrous "an element in things which tends to
create laughter." This may be considered a fair definition, and although
it is quite untrue, and founded on a superficial view of the ludicrous,
it may give us the characteristics which men had in view in originally
giving the name at a time when they had little consideration or
experience.
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